May 14, 2009 - Once upon a time, developers had a small handful of tools to work with. A modern Word document uses more kilobytes than an entire 'old school' machines. The development choice was easy, then – focus on the functionality and, with a little help from the player's imagination, let the form take care of itself. Back then, the only clue players had as to the content/plot of their cartridge was the box art. Without it, they would have little or no idea about what was actually going on. An obvious example is Adventure on the Atari 2600 (well, obvious to old people I guess). The box art shows a sweet dragon and a bad-ass castle locked in mortal combat. In game? A chicken foetus and a toy fort.
This side-by-side comparison of Bank Heist, another classic 2600 title, highlights the point pretty well.
Despite the obvious disconnect between the concept art and the reality, Bank Heist was good fun, especially when you slid the difficulty switch from A to B to activate hard mode. Since then, developers seem to have been playing catch up, trying to make amends for the fugliness of these early games. The majority of resources (budget, man power and technical) are now largely devoted to making a game look as 'realistic' as possible – a process which often results in plastic-skinned creatures from the Uncanny Valley that walk a lot like they just sharted. Bundling resources into this quest to make unsettling (and often unbelievable) character models means something has to give and, more often than not, it's the gameplay.
We think it's time developers went back to the basics and we think you should too. Let's try putting our universal fixation on graphics to one side for a moment, and consider the Old God of game development – the level design.

January 8, 2009 - Saints Row 2 is the follow-up to the thug-core hit that originally came out as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2006. The sequel picks up five years after the end of the first game and tasks players with putting their gang, the 3rd Street Saints, back together after having fallen into disarray. Saints Row 2 is a brash riff on the open world Grand Theft Auto formula, but without the heavy melodrama and fixation on tragedy. You'll find an unapologetically comic rendering of gang turf wars brought to life with an outlandish cast of characters and enough thuggish one-liners to fill out a Wayans Brothers movie. For more thoughts on the game, click here to read Nate Ahearn's IGN review.

December 22, 2008 - While it's no secret that any developer worth his ones and zeroes will tell you that no game is truly finished, it never hurts to take a reflective look at a released product and the work that was put in to make it all come together. We recently sat down with Saints Row 2's Lead Designer James Tsai to talk about everything from being compared to grand Theft Auto IV to downloadable content plans to the delay that might have saved SR2 from certain doom.

October 20, 2008 - Saints Row 2 is the follow-up to the thug-core hit that originally came out as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2006. The sequel picks up five years after the end of the first game and tasks players with putting their gang, the 3rd Street Saints, back together after having fallen into disarray. Saints Row 2 is a brash riff on the open world Grand Theft Auto formula, but without the heavy melodrama and fixation on tragedy. You'll find an unapologetically comic rendering of gang turf wars brought to life with an outlandish cast of characters and enough thuggish one-liners to fill out a Wayans Brothers movie. For more thoughts on the game, click here to read Nate Ahearn's IGN review.

October 9, 2008 - When people see Saints Row 2 they'll instantly think of Grand Theft Auto IV. It's inevitable. It moves similarly, the scenes have the same saturated lighting and there are several parallels that can be drawn between the gameplay of the two. Heck, the text is even color coded in a similar way for mission objectives. But, be warned, Saints Row 2 is most certainly not GTA.

October 7, 2008 - IGN Stars recently visited Tera Patrick on the top-secret set of her film shoot for Saints Row 2. Check out our exclusive pics and Q & A with the adult film star-turned-next gen console babe.

October 6, 2008 - On October 21, no fewer than five headliner games drop into retail: Wii Music, Fable II, Far Cry 2, LittleBigPlanet, and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. If this gamesplosion doesn't blow your mind (and your wallet), the preceding week is festooned with more big titles, like Dead Space, Saints Row 2, and SOCOM: Confrontation. And if you haven't already overturned your couch for loose change yet, consider the week following October 21 with Fallout 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour. Madness.

September 11, 2008 - If I told you Linda Ann Hopkins was Today's Babe, you might say, "who?" But you may recognize her professional name, Today's Babe of The Day, Tera Patrick. If you still don't know who she is…I wonder how it is that you are reading this since you clearly live under a rock, in a cave.
In an industry overpopulated by white, bleach blondes, this exotic looking brunette stands out from the rest. To say Tera Patrick is an adult film actress would be like saying Wayne Gretsky was a hockey player. Or Michael Jordan was basketball player. Or Namor is a tool. Understatement? Check. But this busty brunette is more than a pretty face, and smoking hot body. She has a degree in biology, and she's a nurse. Seriously.

August 26, 2008 - Saints Row 2 is hitting Australian stores on October 16, and it's going to do so with a bang, thanks to the "Initiation" and "Collector's" Editions/Packs, announced today by THQ. Yes, that's two different Special Editions for each platform, with the Initiation packs exclusive to Australia and New Zealand.